After reading an article on photo walks I decided to grab a friend, a six-pack of tall boys, and head to a nearby river. We saw a large spider hanging from a tree, dancing in the wind, which drew me over to this interesting looking tree. When I got to the tree I saw the large carpenter ant, and saw this as an opportunity to test my new lens out.
I took this picture with a Canon 6D, and a Canon 24-105L lens. Camera settings : focal length - 105mm, shutter - 1/320 sec, aperture - f/4.0, ISO - 800.

- L. Alex Frank

There isn't much spring here in the urban-ness of Brooklyn but this shot was taken from my fire escape. Camera planted firmly on the steps....A little absinthe helped the creativeness that night.
Cannon EOS Rebel T3i, 55-250 EF-S @96mm, F5, t=3", iso=120

- Anthony Dellasso

These pictures were shot using a Nikon Coolpix L310 using ISO 380. It doesn't have an interchangeable lens but it was shot in Macro mode as I love it. I think it really captures the freshness of Spring and the happiness that comes with it. It was shot in my front garden - it is particularly good because according to me Summer is the best month in Scotland, not too cold or hot!

- Arnab Mukherjee

The day I took this shot, it was raining after a week of extremely nice weather. It may have been a bad thing for many, but not for me, since it outputted this shot!
Camera: Canon EOS 60D
Lens: 50mm f1.8
Aperture: 3.5
ISO: 800

- Avin Abraham

It was taken on one of the first warm days this year in the mountains
near my home in Akita City, Japan. It is a picture of the popular
mountain vegetable Giant Butterbur also known as Fuki. It is common in
the cedar forests of Northern Japan, and it very popular in cooking in
this area.

This shot was taken with a Sony DSC-H9 at 1/20s, f2.8, ISO 80.

- Christian O'Brien

I had seen these budding, peeking through the snow. I waited a few days until there was a good plant to snow ratio. This is my first entry, hope its good enough.
Shooting Summary
Canon EOS REBEL T2i
F-stop f/5
1/200
iso-100
focal length 39mm

- Franco Bruna

Who said it was spring? It's on the cold side of 40 degress at the end of March and I took this during the late snowfall in the Northeast US. At first I tried doing long exposures to get streaking snow, but the wind was blowing and it was just a mess, so I tried stopping the motion. Naturally, deep DOF and quick shutter meant I had to bump the ISO, so I opted for a B&W treatment to hide the noise. I couldn't get just one shot with the snow I wanted, so I rattled off a 10-shot burst and merged them in Photoshop. I think could have gone for f/12 or f/16 if I bumped the ISO even higher though.
Nikon d700, Nikkor 28-70 2.8 @42mm, ISO 6400, f/10, 1/8000, on a tripod.

- Geoff Yen

"Wild Flare"
Photos of flowers are usually beautiful, but are often composed of the same features: bright colors and heavy bokeh. So, I wanted to create something a little different for this challenge with a unique lens and a crowded feel to the composition. This lomo style shot was taken with my Wanderlust Pinwide lens on a warm spring morning in Japan. It was shot down in the grass with the flowers nearly inside of this plastic pinhole lens' concave body. When this lens is pointed at the sun at just the right angle, it produces wild rainbow flares, and being a pinhole lens, of course, a beautiful natural vignette. The soft focus of a pinhole lens seems to compliment the softness of the flowers nicely. I also especially like how the sun's rays created a shimmering reflection through the white flower pedals. These aspects and the vignette give this photo a romantic feel. Slight color and levels adjustment in Photoshop. Panasonic GH1, Wanderlust Pinwide, ISO 400, 1/20s, handheld.

- James Rogers

I just picked up a few rolls of color film after shooting black and white for a while and decided to wander down to the art district of Phoenix to get some vivid color shots of the graffiti and artwork. Ended up sitting in a tiny park with probably the only grass in the downtown Phoenix area as the sun was setting and decided to finish off my roll of film by getting a few shots in the grass.
Taken on a Canon EOS 1V using Kodak Ektar 100 Color Negative Film and a Canon 15mm f/2.8 fisheye set to f/2.8

- Johnny Edge

I took this picture right in my front yard. I thought it looked amazing because all the leaves are just starting to come out. Trying to catch the first moments of spring was a little harder for me as I live in the southern states and we have pretty much been in spring for the last month. I can't pick and choose when the shooting challenges are and I'm really glad to be able to have something to keep my creative side going and going.
I'm shooting with a Canon Powershot sx260 HS. Shot in manual mode: f3.5, Iso 100, Manual focus at 1/250 shutter speed. Tweaked it a bit in Picasa with a tiny bit of sharpness and highlight.

- Josh Matthews

The picture was taken on March 31, 2013. It was a beautiful cool spring afternoon.
I was standing on the front porch of my new house and I saw that there was this tiny bright purple flower in the front yard. Thinking of the challenge I ran and grabbed my camera. As I laid down in the cool grass an equally tiny bee landed and that's how I got the shot.
The camera used in the shot was my Nikon D3100 Lens used was the Af-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm.
As far as the settings used 1/160 Contrast ratio and the ISO was set to 100.

- Krystal Hefner

This close-up of Heliconius Erato Notabilis or Small Postman butterfly was taken at Fredrick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It lit on a plant right over my shoulder. All I had to do was set for macro and zoom all the way out.
Taken with a Canon PowerShot SD 1300 IS, f/2.8, 1/60 exposure, ISO-250, 5mm focal length, 2.97 aperture, no flash.

- Mark Rawson

I took this image of an Iris for your Spring Shooting Challenge. The choice of image was largely determined for me. I was passing a house on the seafront in Brighton (UK) (where I live) that had window boxes with dead plants within apart from this single iris. I attempted to capture the image by perching over their balcony and taking the shot. Unfortunately I couldn't capture the shrivelled plants in the background as I had to rush (as I must have looked strange) but I still think it is a beautiful image. Iris' are commonly associated with the first days of spring (only second to daffodils) so this was an opportunity that I couldn't miss.
I took the shot with a Canon D650, 100mm Macro Lens, ISO 1600, F2.6 with no additional lighting (obviously!) so only daylight.

- Mhiran H Patel

I was walking around the Stanford Shopping Center Mall while a good friend of mine was getting an MRI at the Stanford Hospital. I was enjoying all the lovely flowers budding, and noticed this Poppy Getting ready to flower. I instantly knew I needed a photo of this flower.
Iphone 4
F 2.8
1/120sec
ISO-125
35mm focal length

- Mike Valenzu

The first blooms after a Philadelphia winter. These persistent purple & white flowers pushed their way through two inches of snow outside my front door - a reminder that milder weather is on its way.
Canon EOS REBEL T1i
ISO 100
55 mm
f/5.6
1/640
Small adjustments in Adobe Lightroom

- Moira Flood

It was the first warm sunny day in the northeast and it had just rained the night before. I was exploring my old childhood neighborhood looking for any signs of life after a long winter. This flower was one of the very few I came across on my journey. The way the morning sun shined bright on it and the vibrant pop of color in a field of gray made it too hard to pass up.
Shot on my Canon 5D Mark III with a 24-70mm Lens @ 70mm, F/2.8, 1/1600, ISO 200.

- Monica Dabrowski

I've been trying to get back in photography for a while, but cameras cost too much, and no digital body would accept my old glass. Then I learned about micro four thirds, and how they can use old glass. Then Google Reader showed me a steal of a deal on a Panasonic GF5. Needless to say, one showed up at my door a week later. Then I found the shooting challenges and wanted to send in a photo. Due to timing, I could get a photo in for the last two, so I was happy to see this one was open for a while. During my lunch break at work I sometimes go for a walk around the block with co-workers. One of these walks I saw that there were several things I could shoot. So the next morning I grabbed my camera and headed to work, only realizing I had my Canon new FD 50mm f/1.8 lens on it after I left. So at lunch I walked around, taking a photo here and there of plants and flowers and bugs. But when cutting though an empty parking lot I saw this plant growing up in the crack within sight of a large, flowered bush. So I set the camera on the asphalt and did my best to frame it and set the timer. I used iPhoto '11 to do a little post processing and am pleased with how it came out.
Photo shot with a Panasonic GF5 using a Canon new FD 50mm (100mm effective) f/1.8 lens set around f/1.8-2.8 at 1/500 of a sec.

-Nathan Joslin

Our cherry tree just bloomed a few days ago here in Texas. I thought it would be a interesting looking picture to have the backdrop be the sky, that way the pink cherry blossoms have a nice contrast to the blue and white sky. This was actually the first picture I took, as I was getting the settings all set up right. When I went back to review the pictures on the computer, I noticed this came out exactly as I was hoping, and as an added bonus, there is a lizard on the branch in the upper right corner!
Equipment: Nikon D3200 using Nikkor 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6 lens Settings: F11 1/125 sec ISO-200 Exposure bias +1 step

-Nicholas Shirley

The challenge for me was that I am in Autumn as I live in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore while technically I cannot submit Spring, I took the view that I can submit something that has the theme of Spring. A very traditional picture of insects collecting the nectar out of blossom. This plant is actually considered a weed and my neighbour chopped it down shortly after the pictures were taken. I have no idea what type of insects they are, they seem quite harmless and didn't mind me pushing the camera lens up close. I took these with a mirror less Sony NEX-F3 camera. This is a new purchase and I am still getting to grips with it. The lens I used was the standard Sony 18-55mm zoom. I set the Camera in manual focussing mode and then simply set the focus and moved the camera back and forth to get the sweet spot. I had two issues it as not as easy to focus as my Pentax DSLR and the sun washed out the LCD so at times it was point shoot and hope.
Camera: Sony NEX-F3
f/5.6
1/160 sec
55mm (82mm equiv 35mm)
No post processing except some cropping and resizing to suit the competition requirements.

I spent a few days in Kenmare, Co. Kerry, Ireland and was lucky to see the first blue sky this year. I took this picture while hiking on a sunny morning. These first flowers seem to promise that spring has finally arrived. The picture is taken with a 400D and the 18-55mm kit lens. 1/320s at f/13 and ISO 400.

- Sarah Schmid

Over the fence, the grass is always greener! It seems that my neighbour's garden had more spring subjects than mine.
With her permission I could wander around and found - next to all bees and flowers - this willow tree flower the most
prosperous and promissing spring sign after the long winter. Shot with my Canon 300D and the 18-55mm kit lens. 1/60s at
f/5.6 with ISO 200.

- Simone Ammann

I'm a brand new photographer trying to get into this as a hobby. This photo, of a Daffodil, was taken while walking though McLaughlin Park in Boston, MA. I wanted to try to get a classic Macro shot with an interesting background.
Camera: Canon Rebel T3i
Lens: ES-F 55-250mm
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 1600
Shutter Speed: 1/4000

- Timothy W. Bożyczko

Playing around with composites. This is a flower I found in my front yard that I picked, took pictures of it closed waited for it to open, and took more pictures of it. This particular image is a composite of 8 separate pictures stitched together. Happy spring!

- Tim Nummy

Spring for residents of DC and neighboring states (VA & MD) translates to Cherry Blossom Trees and the Cherry Blossom Festival (which will happen on Saturday 2013/04/13). In order to beat the rush of tourists coming for this along with a rumored return of the cicadas after 17 years, my wife and I decided to pay the Tidal Basin a visit, where many of these beautiful trees were planted. My shot (and entry to the contest) captures not the pinkest of the bloom, but one that was almost at peak bloom. In the background, you see the Washington Monument gracing the sun's spotlight. I managed to get the great blue of the sky by using a CPL Filter on my lens. Other aspects of the shots were:
Camera: Sony SLT-A33
Lens: 35mm FFL Lens
ISO: 100
F-Number: 1.8
Exposure Time: 1/400 sec
Flash: None

- Trishal Khetia

I took this shot on my walk back from the bus stop to my apartment with my iPhone 5 (it's the best camera I have at the moment, get off my back!). Took a couple tries to get the focus and depth of field just right, considering the minimal amount of control you have on the iPhone. I really love these blossoms, though, they make spring so beautiful. Pulled this info from the meta, obviously I didn't have too much control over these settings, though:
Exposure: 1/125 at f/2.4
ISO: 50
White Balance: Auto

- Wally Zielinski

Photo taken of a tree in my backyard with my phone. you can see the antenna of a bee peeking between two pedals.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus with flash on default settings.

- Zach Barrett

Picture was taken on March 28 in East Texas. It's Azalea time in our area and I was tying to capture the bloom ad the beginning blooms of his season. This was taken in my yard after I had just received my new Nikon lens in the mail so it was fun to play around with the zoom
Nikon D3100 Exp: 1/500 Apt: f/5.6 FL 300mm ISO 200

- Joel Estes

No amazing story just found these flowers in my backyard and I thought they where pretty.
Taken with a Nikon D3100 and a Nikon 18-55mm lens at 55mm. I edited the photo using Lightroom 4 .